A 2-0 win on Saturday over Northwestern Oklahoma State University clinched the SAC regular season title for the women's soccer team.

JBU finished the regular season with an overall record of 12-5 and a conference record of 9-1.

The win also propelled the Lady Eagles into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Top 25 Poll. JBU is tied for 24th place along with Houghton College (N. Y.). Each team received 127 votes. The first place team, Lindsey Wilson College (Ky.), received 586 votes.

As the No. one seed in the conference, JBU will have a first round bye and home field advantage for all of its games during the SAC tournament.

JBU out-shot Northwestern in Saturday's game 43-0 and had 16 shots-on-goal.

JBU controlled possession of the ball for most of the game.

Junior forward Sarah Kidd said the team was constantly on offense because it focused on maintaining possession of the ball and moving it across the field.

Despite good ball movement and distribution, JBU was not able to find the goal in the first half.

Junior midfielder Camille Malkiewicz scored unassisted in the 53rd minute. Freshman defender Cheyenne Padgett followed with her first goal of the year in the 76th minute off an assist from Kidd.

Head coach Joe Thoma said even though he thought the team could have scored more goals, he was pleased with the outcome of the game.

"Our goal now is to get to the national tournament," he said.

To make it to the NAIA tournament, the Lady Eagles will first have to make it through a tough SAC tournament.

Right behind JBU in conference standings is Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) with an overall record of 13-3-1 and a conference record of 8-1. They are the No. two seed and will also have a first round bye in the SAC tournament.

JBU played SNU on Sept. 29 and came away with 3-2 win.

The only possible matchup between JBU and SNU in the conference tournament would come in the championship on Nov. 13 if both teams advance that far.

After coming off their bye in the first round, JBU will face the winner of the game between the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Baptist University in the semifinals.

Malkiewicz said the team's mentality is one of the most important parts of its focus going into the bye week.

"We know how we need to play, and we are going to take the tournament one game at a time," she said.

The men's soccer team isn't expecting its season to get any easier as it enters the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference with four starters out with injuries and a quarterfinal draw at Oklahoma City University Friday.

OCU finished off its season Tuesday night with a loss against Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) with a 6-2-1 record in the SAC and 13-3-2 overall. The team is ranked third in the conference.

John Brown finished tied for fourth place in the conference sharing a SAC record of 4-4-1 with Rogers State University (Okla.), and Oklahoma Christian University. However, OC's loss to RSU and JBU's 1-0 loss to OC dropped the team to the sixth seed in the SAC Tournament.

Assistant coach Jesse Charles called OCU's offense "lethal" and described it as one of the premiere teams in the conference.

JBU saw first hand how lethal OCU could be after a 3-0 loss at OCU Oct. 10. OCU out-shot JBU 22-8, with 12 of those shots finding the frame to JBU's three.

Head coach John Miglarese said he was "happy with the draw" beacuse JBU was a team OCU had had trouble against this season. OCU was unable to score until the 73rd minute in the regular season match.

Another advantage Miglarese foresaw was rest.

"We haven't played in a week, and [OCU] just played Tuesday night in a double overtime," he said. "If we're going to win the conference [tournament], we're going to have to beat them at some point, so I'm glad its sooner rather than later."

JBU will face OCU without the help of four key players: freshman forward Cristobal Duran, who is out for the season with a torn ACL and meniscus; junior forward Sasha Viatrov with a broken foot; freshman midfielder David Castagne, who is recovering from surgery on his meniscus and ACL, and freshman defender Mikhail Kolemasov who broke his foot Monday.

The SAC Tournament begins Friday. With a win against OCU, the team will play in the semifinals Monday and then again in the finals Nov. 12 if the winning continues.

SNU and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma both got first-round byes in the tournament due to their top-two status. The teams will compete in the semifinal round Monday.

The other quarterfinal match will be between the fourth-seeded RSU and fifth-seeded Oklahoma Christian on Monday.

The volleyball team's possibility of making it to the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament is more uncertain after two losses and one win against conference opponents in the past week.

JBU's overall record now stands at 22-10 and its conference record drops to 6-6.

JBU lost in three sets to Oklahoma City University Tuesday night; 21-25, 20-25, 14-25.

OCU is currently ranked second in the conference.

Freshman outside hitter Erin Didier said the Lady Eagles struggled to get a rhythm going for the match and could not match the strong performances of OCU's hitters.

Junior outside hitter Xiaoting Ma led OCU with 17 kills and hit at 44 percent on the match.

As a team, OCU hit at 21 percent.

Junior outside hitter Kirsten Lee and junior middle hitter Amber Wilson had eight kills each for the Lady Eagles.

JBU hit at nine percent on the night.

OCU also outdug JBU 71 to 51.

Senior libero Shannon Proctor picked up 11 digs for the match.

The Lady Eagles recorded their only conference win of the week on Saturday against Wayland Baptist University (Texas).

JBU defeated WBU in three sets; 25-19, 25-21, 25-18.

Didier led the Lady Eagles in kills for the match with 17.

WBU had trouble establishing communication on the court, which led to their defeat.

WBU totaled seven receiving errors for the match and three service errors.

JBU tallied seven service aces.

JBU faced WBU on Oct. 2 and won 3-2.

The Lady Eagles put up a strong effort against Lubbock Christian University (Texas) on Friday night, but fell in four sets; 13-25, 25-18, 20-25, 23-25.

JBU held LCU to a 16 percent hitting efficiency for the match.

Didier led the Lady Eagles again in kills with 13. She also contributed 14 digs.

Proctor led the team in digs with 29.

JBU played LCU on Oct. 3 and fell in three straight sets.

Didier's hitting efficiency in the past three matches earned her SAC Hitter of the Week honors.

Didier averaged four kills per game with a 33 percent hitting efficiency.

JBU is currently ranked fifth in conference standings.

The top five teams will advance to the conference tournament.

JBU has two matches remaining in its season.

The Lady Eagles will face Southern Nazarene University (Okla.) tonight on the road at 7 p.m. SNU is tied for fifth with JBU in conference standings.

JBU's final match of the season will take place at home on Monday at 7 p.m. against Mid-America Christian University (Okla.). MACU currently holds the sixth ranking in the conference.

Head coach Robyn Daugherty said victories in the next two matches were critical for JBU to get into the SAC tournament.

"We have two more games and we need two more wins," she said.

I'm not a Yankees fan. I love baseball and my allegiances rest solely in the corner of my Colorado Rockies.

On any given night throughout the summer, you can find me with my backside firmly planted in an upper-deck seat at Coors Field, halfway through my second foot-long hot dog, wearing one of my six different Rockies hats and loving life.

But for some reason, every time I watch a Yankees game I can't help but pull for the Yankees. I have devoted hours of my life trying to draw some sense of meaning and clarity in my unavoidable support of the Yankees, and I think I have an answer.

I like to be hated. I grew up playing for the teams that were wildly detested by all, and I find myself identifying with the Yankees for that very reason. I guess that makes me a fan of the Yankees.

(And we all know that the Rockies aren't hated by anyone. Sure, they win, but when you wear purple and have a purple dinosaur for a mascot it's hard to hate you.)

I told you that to get to this: I'm going to bat for the pinstripes.

Now that I have accepted myself as a Yankees fan, I've found myself taking offense to accusations that the Yankees bought a championship.

They haven't even won yet!

And still the bitter Yankee-haters out there want to chastise them for just being in the World Series. It's pure jealousy on their part because they either support a team that was mathematically out of contention for the postseason in July, or they're a Red Sox fan.

Let me make this abundantly clear; you cannot buy a championship.

You can buy players. You can buy stadiums. You can buy better bats, gloves and cleats, but championships don't have a price tag. If they did, you wouldn't ever have to play the games. Professional sports would be a billion-dollar game of monopoly to see who could acquire the best players and that would be all.

Just because the Yankees have the money to buy the best players, success is not automatic. They've had the highest payroll in the league for decades now. If money buys championships, why doesn't the trophy case at Yankee Stadium have a World Series title for every single one of those years?

Because money doesn't buy championships.

You want more proof? The second highest payroll in Major League Baseball for 2009 is the New York Mets; and it's possible that the Mets are either actively trying to lose or they desperately want to be like the Chicago Cubs.

And speaking of the Cubs, they have the third highest payroll in baseball. You could put the entire National League All-Star team in a Cubs uniform, pay them a $500,000 per inning and they still wouldn't get a ring.

And you're telling me that if your team had the money that the Yankees do, you wouldn't want them to spend it?

I would go to Vegas and bet a large stack of dead presidents that if Joe Schmoe-Kansas City Royals fan was offered the payroll that the Yankees have and won the World Series, they would be outraged if they were accused of buying a championship. It's because it's all about wanting what you can't have.

The chemistry of winning is something that is absolutely intangible. It can't be measured in dollars or contracts. Money buys the pieces of the puzzle, it doesn't put it together.

So when Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman goes out and signs Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira to go along with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and the rest of the Yankees' stacked line-up card, he hasn't won anything. He has only given manager Joe Girardi that tools needed to succeed.

The issue is that people hate the Yankees, and the only criticism they can mount against them is that they just buy championships. So I go back to my original point. You can't buy championships. And the people who think you can are just jealous that they don't have the luxury of bringing in high-priced players, because if they did, they wouldn't be complaining at all.

The argument is not whether or not they should win, because they should, and every year that they don't is a testament to the fact that these guys are human and fallible. And that's one more reason why you can't buy a championship.

One of the worst parts of going from a soccer player to a soccer coach is the "agony" of being on the sidelines. Or, at least that's the worst part according to first-year assistant men's soccer coach Jesse Charles.

Charles grew up outside of Baltimore, Md., and has been playing soccer since he was five. He played on club teams most of his life but then joined a high school team as a center midfielder after moving to Muncie, Ind., his sophomore year of high school.

After high school, Charles was recruited to Montreat College in Ashville, N.C., to play college soccer. After two years there, he decided to take a year off to "figure out life" and decide what he wanted to do.

He decided to play soccer for Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga.

Charles came to John Brown University from Chattanooga, Tenn, He had graduated from Covenant in 2007 after having played soccer under current JBU head coach John Miglarese for two years.

Charles' plan, he said, was to apply at seminary schools and to pursue Military Chaplaincy. Unfortunately, the school he wanted to attend did not accept him and he faced a difficult decision: what to do next?

It was then that Miglarese called Charles and encouraged him to apply for the assistant coaching position at JBU.

In what he called a "last-minute decision," Charles applied and was hired for the position and was moved and settled in by early August.

Miglarese said he recognized Charles' ability to relate to his players and that this and his experience as a player were what made him "a great hire."

"He has a passion to be involved in the lives of the guys we coach. He wants to get beyond the surface and challenge them," he said.

Charles, however, was not as sure about taking on the role of "coach."

"My temperament is pretty fiery as a player, so I didn't think that would work well with coaching," he said. "[Miglarese] always alluded to two types of players: the soldier and the artist. I was definitely a soldier."

Although Charles said coaching has forced him to "tone it down," he said it has given him the honor of seeing his team mature and unite despite the challenges of multiple injuries and disciplinary issue early in the season.

"I love the relationships. That's definitely my niche," he said. "I love the nature of guys interacting with guys and the under-the-surface stuff that makes interpersonal communication so vital."

That, Charles said, is his favorite part of being a coach. But what is his least favorite part?

"The disconnect from the pitch," he said. "I hate being on the sideline. Because most of the real work happens during practice, I'm essentially a bystander during the game. It's part of the agony of the sideline."

In addition to assisting Miglarese during practices and games, Charles has also taken on an active role in recruiting. Although he said missing a game or two to recruit players is tough, he still likes that part of his job.

"There's something really energizing pursuing a recruit well and finding the right fit," Charles said. "Part of it is the chase."

As a graduate student getting his master's in marriage and family therapy at JBU, Charles said he is constantly learning new things that will eventually overlap in his coaching.

Miglarese said his honesty is what helps make him the right fit for JBU soccer.

"He's very direct and honest," he said. "Players don't want fluff. They can see through it, and Jesse is very honest but also very caring and relates well to them."

When he graduates, Charles plans to pursue seminary and perhaps go back to his original dream of being a military chaplain.

However, he said all his future plans will depend on what the God has in store.

Charles knows that for at least the next two seasons, he will be on the pitch working with a team in which he sees only potential.

He said that ownership and players that are willing to step up are marks of a good team, and that the maturity and growth of the current team throughout the season are signs of this.

"It's been a growing process. You don't transform a team in a year. It takes a joint effort and vision to make a team," he said. "It's a work in progress, but there are a lot of great things to build on."

The women's basketball team at John Brown University has it's sight set on one thing this season: finishing in the top five in the Sooner Athletic Conference and making it to the first round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament.

Coming off an 8-14 SAC record and an overall record of 14-17 last year, the Lady Eagles hope to improve that record with some key recruits and four of last year's five starters returning to the court.

Returning for her third year with the team is all-SAC and all-American honorable mention forward Ashley Taylor. Last year Taylor led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points per game and in rebounding with seven per game. She also holds the JBU record for free throws made in a single season with 166.

Although a stress fracture has set Taylor back during the preseason, head coach Jeff Soderquist said that she was back in practice last week. He hopes to have her back in "game condition" by the first game against Ecclesia (Ark.) Nov. 10.

If Taylor isn't able to put in as much time as hoped, senior forwards LeNece Glossett and Amber Vogts are more than ready to step in. Vogt shot 32.6 percent from the field last season and Glossett tallied 3.3 rebounds and shot 42 percent from the field.

Also returning to up JBU's inside game is sophomore post Chelsea Garrison. At 6'-2", she led JBU inside last year with nine points per game and 4.81 rebounds.

She will be getting some help from red-shirt sophomore forward Staffica Bain, who will be back in the lane after sitting out last season with a torn ACL.

Soderquist said that these returning players would be key players who would help the team this season. However, he also said the freshman class was looking pretty good, as well.

"I'm pleased with all our freshman," he said. "I think they can all help us."

In that category are freshman guards Lindsey Parrish, Jessica Berlin, Anna Parish and Jordyn Ferrell. Soderquist predicted that all of them would put in key minutes this season.

These four, in addition to senior guard Micaela Cully, junior guard Katie Mangels and last season's starting point guard junior Emily Ortiz, have given the Lady Eagles much-needed depth on the perimeter.

Soderquist said that two weak areas from last year were in turnovers and three-point percentages. Having a deeper team and more guards to substitute should help the women clean up their act for the season ahead.

But the road to finishing in the top five won't be easy.

JBU was ranked eighth in the SAC preseason coaches' poll released Oct. 20. Leading in the rankings was Oklahoma Baptist University, which picked up eight of the 12 first-place votes and is coming off an NAIA Final Four finish and a record of 32-5 last season.

But OBU isn't the Lady Eagles' only problem.

Teams like Oklahoma City University (ranked second), Southern Nazarene University, Lubbock Christian University, Wayland Baptist and Rogers State will all be tough to beat as well.

SNU garnered a first-place vote and 96 points in the coaches' polls while LCU, WBU and RSU tallied 90, 88 and 73 points, respectively.

The Lady Eagles had no first-place votes and slid in the eighth slot just behind Oklahoma Christian University (57 points) with 47 points.

However, Soderquist said that in a conference like the SAC, the competition is always fierce.

"The thing about our conference is that all 12 teams are really good," he said. "You can play the last-[ranked] team, and it's not going to be just a walkover."

The NAIA Top 25 Poll puts four top SAC teams among the top teams in the nation: OBU ranked third, OCU was eighth, SNU got in at 15th and LCU slid in at 19th.

Although Soderquist said he has not decided on a starting lineup, he is confident in his team's defending skills and in its potential to reach its goals this year.

"We have always been one of the best defending teams in the conference, and our goal is to still do that while working on hitting more three-pointers and cutting back on turnovers," Soderquist said.

The Lady Eagles kick off their season on Tuesday in Murray Sells Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.